Results 1,721-1,740 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I do not mean what I or the Minister might define as "underemployed" when I use that term. It is very positive that we have part-time work. We should probably embrace the concept more. We need to look to quality part-time work. In terms of underemployment, I am speaking to the figures. These figures are from last year so it would be interesting to see how they stack up. The previous...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister is expressing concern about the issue at hand. Nonetheless, we face a dilemma here and I see her argument in relation to time. We know how long it takes to get legislation through all Stages but is there scope, since she will be going back to the Dáil in any event, for a Government amendment to be brought in on Report Stage in which she can reserve the right to introduce...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To be very clear, I am seeking, in the context of the bands, to ensure that we can be ahead of what might come next.

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to back up what Senator Ruane said. Reports and reviews are often specified depending on which one is more appropriate to prove the effective operation of a measure. We are dealing with the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill and a review is appropriate and would fit with the purpose of the Bill. We know the social welfare Bill, for example, regularly has reports attached to...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: If we have an election the Minister might get a promotion, yet we would be reassured that the review has been legally put on the agenda and that it will continue regardless of the formation of the Government. That is what is being sought and it is a reasonable request. I accept the Minister has to make a change in terms of how it is done and I urge her to consider it strongly.

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is counter-intuitive for me to vote against this section. I like that it is there, and that steps have been taken. If it is pushed, I will support it but I understand that the prevailing wind in the House is for its removal. I would not want the fact that we in the joint committee are undertaking hearings to be a reason for not including it. I regret that we were not able to debate the...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We do not know what nine out of ten of those cases are about because we were not provided with information on the appeals. Information on the number of cases appealed and their outcomes has not been provided to us yet and that is a concern. The Minister talked about the individual taking the case. There is a huge onus then on the individual to go through the High Court in some cases or the...

Joint Standing Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands: Craoltóireacht Raidió agus an Ghaeilge: Plé (4 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: An féidir go mbeidh seans agam labhairt sa díospóireacht?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I support the idea of this report and think it is appropriate that it would be done as part of a real forensic analysis of our tax reliefs and their ongoing effect. It is in a similar spirit to the amendment I had proposed to put forward to previous sections, in respect of a very large new set of measures put in place for tax reliefs and so forth, where I suggested we should not leave...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: While I am not opposed to this amendment there are serious data protection concerns, and that will still be the case even following the acceptance of the proposed amendments. I will address those issues when I come to the relevant section. I am speaking to this section in case I need to take action on it on Report Stage.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Could the Minister of State confirm that this will not mean a de facto weakening of the power and that it is simply a change of terms and that there is not a diminishment of the capacity by virtue of the change from investigations to review?

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 8:In page 8, line 26, after “other” to insert “public”. My set of amendments, to which the Government has tabled amendments in response, relates to section 5. Before I get into a detailed discussion of the amendments, I note that I was an English language teacher myself for four years and am looking forward to that part of the debate. This...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Central Applications Office is listed separately and would not be affected by my amendment No. 8, as is SOLAS and a number of other bodies. My concern is with reference to "any other body". I accept it is a very substantial concession for the Minister of State to take directly identifiable personal data out of this exchange of information, but there are still caveats. Perhaps a further...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 11:In page 8, lines 27 to 32, to delete all words from and including “may” in line 27 down to and including line 32 and substitute the following:“may put in place a data sharing agreement with a Department of State, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, An tUdarás um Ard- Oideachas, Solas and the Central Applications Office. The Minister...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 12:In page 8, line 30, after “other” to insert “public”. I will withdraw the amendment and reserve the right to reintroduce it.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I note that amendments Nos. 21 and 29 relating to criteria and specified providers, and I reserve the right to examine those on Report Stage. It is also important to recognise the large number of students who come to Ireland looking for education because Ireland is one of those English speaking countries that offers and extraordinary and important educational opportunity, and the valuable...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Given everything that has been said so articulately by my colleagues, I will keep my contribution to a minimum. I was an English language teacher in Ireland for four years when I saw the extraordinarily bad practice that is in the sector. It was an area that lacked unionisation and I am delighted to see people are organised and unionised now. I support the provisions and the Minister of...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wish to clarify something for those who might have been concerned after hearing the earlier speeches on European law. The legal advice which has been given to us is clear. While the Attorney General may have given advice about cases, it is clear in European and international trade law that cases would be taken under this. For example, the EU trade agreement with Israel, which is in no...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In that sense this is a move in favour of multilateral diplomacy and in favour of the use of tools of diplomacy, rather than the rule of might, power and alliances. It shows we can instruments put in place. It reaffirms international diplomacy and is important not simply for Israel and Palestine but, as was rightly mentioned, for Western Sahara and the Sahrawi where trading by Irish...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Second Stage (6 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I join other Senators in welcoming the Minister of State to the House. I am aware that he is also interested in some of these issues in his brief. I look forward to engaging on them in greater depth on Committee Stage with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Doherty. I will touch on a couple of the key issues, one of which is the fundamental issue of pensions....